Day 1: A Good Omen

I decided to start my green smoothie experiment today instead of Friday. We were all up and ready early enough today to head to the store by 9:00am, so I decided to jump in and start my challenge before I chickened out. Of course, I had no support from the peanut gallery once we got in the car.

Mikey: "Mama, where are we going?"

Jules: "We're going to Ralphs."

Mikey: "I don't want to go to Walphs! I want to go to Bons [Vons]!"

Jules: "What's wrong with Ralphs? We're going to Ralphs because they have the double seat shopping carts and this way you can sit with Nicholas."

Mikey: "But mama I don't want to go to Walphs! I don't want to sit in the baby seat because I am not a baby!"

Jules: "Well, we have to go to Ralphs because they have a better selection of fruits and vegetables for our smoothies. Don't you want to make smoothies?" Note: Mikey loves smoothies.

Mikey: "Mama, we need to go to Bons. Walphs is just not a good idea. It's just not because it's not."

So we pulled into Ralphs with a chip on our shoulder. Like I knew he would, Mikey forgot all about his disdain for the baby seat once he realized it meant he could inappropriately squeeze, poke, and prod Nicholas when he thought I wasn't looking. Every now and then he'll actually do something nice, like give him a hug.

This is why I love my Ralphs. Their produce selection is amazing. Expensive as all get out, but amazing. I even bought Kumquats. Can you believe I've never tried one before? I know! I'm from California! People around here grow them as house plants. Anyway, I bought some and they were pretty tasty if you like things sweet and sour like I do. Mikey tried one, too, and almost threw up all over the kitchen floor. He thinks they are quite vulgar, or in his words, "No. No, mama. No."

And here we go.

Jules: "Mikey! I told you no wrestling in the cart."

Mikey: "But I'm not, mama! I'm not doing anything!"

Jules: "Then why are you all leaned up against Nicholas? You're totally squishing him. I know what you're doing, Mikey, and you can't wrestle in shopping carts, or anywhere else for that matter."

Mikey: "Huh?"

We left with a cart full of fruits, vegetables, and tears. Oh, and a super-bouncy-ball. I don't really know how the super-bouncy-ball got in there.

We finally made it home and started working on the green smoothie. I didn't take any pictures of the actual process, mainly because I was busy feeding a screaming Nicholas like a pigeon while I gave Mikey things to put in the blender--or as he likes to call it, The Giant Smoothie Cup that is Really Loud.

OK, so I basically took a recipe from Victoria Boutenko's book and modified it to please my novice green smoothie taste buds. My usual smoothies are one rum shot away from a Piña Colada, so I wasn't kidding myself with this whole "Green Smoothies taste like candy!" nonsense. Into the blender went:

• 2 cups water
• 1 frozen banana
• frozen peaches (about 1.5 cups) --the recipe called for 6 fresh peaches, but since they aren't in season, I bought frozen.
• 1 TB coconut butter
  
• 1 TB Agave syrup (it's like thin honey)
• 2 handfuls of spinach (!!)
  

You know, it was actually tasty! It wasn't thick like a regular smoothie, which was intentional because I thought I was going to have to power it down. It went down like a glass of milk. It was mildly sweet, and the taste of spinach disappeared after the addition of agave and coconut butter. Really, I didn't need to worry about swallowing it all as soon as possible because it tasted just fine.

What did Mikey think? He loved it! He actually drank it all in one sitting and was disappointed when it was all gone.

Nicholas even had some. It wasn't love at first slurp like it was for Mikey. In fact, I wish I had a video of him taking the first sip. He did a whole body shudder and muttered, "huuuuu-haaaaaaa!" He was a trooper, though, and finished it up.

So, all in all, a success! One day down, only 29 more to go! I think I might be able to do it, though. We'll see. I think it's a pretty good omen that I committed to doing this yesterday, which happened to be my 100th post (I had no idea). How about that? That's a good sign, right? Right.